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A new poll of Finnish iPhone users commissioned by Alekstra shows that the average consumer estimates his or her smartphone bill is 11% higher than it could be with the optimal plan. Most consumers believe they have not picked the best possible plan for their personal voice, SMS and data usage profile. But at the same time, consumers tend to believe that switching to a new plan would not yield meaningful savings.

However, based on the analysis of 2'000 Finnish iPhone users who have downloaded the Ratemizer application, the average savings achieved by switching to the optimal plan are actually 160 euros per year. This is about 35% of the average annual iPhone bill in Finland.

Phone Plan Comparison by Ratemizer

It thus seems that Finnish consumers tend to underestimate how much they are overpaying - and by a fairly substantial margin. There are considerable differences between operators; iPhone owners using a carrier called TeleFinland have an annual average savings potential of 254 euros.

Most consumers believe that switching to a cheaper plan would require changing carriers and dealing with various hardships such as termination fees. Yet over 90% of the consumers who Ratemizer application identified as overspenders could change to a substantially cheaper plan while remaining with the same operator.

This would seem to support the theory floated by several industry observers: the increased complexity of available smartphone plans in many European countries actually creates a psychological barrier for comparison shopping. Once the number of possible phone plans tops one hundred, consumers tend to adopt a hedgehog pose and shy away from the work of serious price analysis.

Interestingly, even as European carriers have embraced increased price plan complexity in recent years, US carriers who pioneered the trick have actually simplified their plan structures. Verizon and AT&T now look more streamlined than European carriers - a complete switch of roles compared to the status quo of 2002. The most likely explanation here is that as the hegemony of Verizon and AT&T has grown, they have started feeling confident about pruning down most of their consumer plan options. Verizon and AT&T no longer need to bamboozle consumers with a plan jungle - they own 80% of smartphone users and their share is only growing. In Europe, leading operators face strong competition from challenger carriers and thus feel they have an incentive to continue increasing phone plan complexity level.